For most of human history, the high seas belonged to no one — and nothing.
The international waters beyond national jurisdictions cover roughly 64% of the world's ocean surface. That is nearly half the planet. For decades, this vast expanse had no comprehensive legal framework to protect it. Ships could fish without limits. Mining could proceed without environmental assessment. Pollution could accumulate without accountability. The high seas were the last great ungoverned space on Earth.
On January 17, 2026, that changed.
The Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction — known as the BBNJ Agreement, or more simply, the High Seas Treaty or Global Ocean Treaty — entered into force. Negotiations had lasted twenty years. The agreement was adopted at the United Nations in June 2023. On September 19, 2025, the 60th nation deposited its instrument of ratification, triggering a 120-day countdown to legal force.
When that clock expired on January 17, 2026, the treaty became binding international law for all ratifying parties. As of that date, 86 nations had ratified it and 145 had signed — meaning the overwhelming majority of the international community has committed to its terms.
**What the treaty actually does**
The BBNJ Agreement creates, for the first time, a framework for governing three things in international waters:
*Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).* The treaty allows for the designation of MPAs on the high seas — protected zones where certain activities are restricted to preserve biodiversity. This is the mechanism through which the global goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030 (the '30x30' target) can actually be achieved in areas beyond national borders.
*Environmental Impact Assessments.* Any activity that could significantly harm marine biodiversity in high seas areas — including deep-sea mining, major fishing operations, and industrial activity — now requires an environmental impact assessment under the treaty framework.
*Benefit-sharing of Marine Genetic Resources.* Marine genetic resources — the biological material from ocean organisms that can be used in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and industry — can now only be accessed under a framework that ensures developing nations share in the benefits. This addresses a long-standing inequity in which wealthy nations' research institutions collected genetic material from international waters for commercial use while poorer nations received nothing.
**What comes next**
The first Conference of the Parties (COP) is expected to convene before the end of 2026. This will be where the detailed implementation rules are worked out — the specific parameters for MPAs, the assessment procedures, the benefit-sharing mechanisms. The treaty is a framework; the COP is where it gains its practical teeth.
The European Union — which pushed hard for the treaty — called its entry into force 'a milestone for ocean conservation and a turning point for international environmental law.'
Greenpeace, which campaigned for the treaty for years, described it as 'a turning point in our relationship with the ocean.'
The ocean absorbs over 90% of the excess heat from climate change and produces roughly half of Earth's oxygen. It is the life-support system of the planet. For the first time, the international community has a legal tool capable of protecting it beyond the narrow strips of water each country controls.
Twenty years of negotiation. Eighty-six nations. One planet. The high seas are no longer ungoverned. 🌊